Those of us who have been part of feminist or queer politics in North America have had plenty of experience with this competition to be named MVP —Most Victimized Person. Many of us dropped out of political activism because of the hellish hours we spent sitting in circles accusing each other of racism and homophobia until someone “won.”
Category: Writing
Sarah featured on Maisonneuve Magazine website
An excerpt from my graphic novel in progress and an interview by Megan Stewart.
Lessons in Connection, Xtra West #369, October 10, 2007
James Loney is my hero. That’s the one-sentence version of how I feel about him.
My intense admiration for him started in March 2006 when he and two other members of the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT) were rescued, having been held hostage for four months in Iraq.
My New Gay Friend, Xtra West #366, August 29, 2007
Someone asked me the other day if Paul was my gay boyfriend. I said no, because the label makes me think of a swishy, bitchy fag who would criticize my clothes and make catty comments about my dyke friends. Paul so far has shown little interest in my fashion choices and is far less catty than I am.
Read the rest…
Review of Female to Femme
Femme dykes and our supporters have ranted for at least 30 years about how femmes aren’t considered “real” dykes or queers. So it’s not like the ideas in Female to Femme are completely new. What audiences love is finally seeing them on film…
My review of the documentary Female to Femme is now online at Xtra West.
“Kaddish” Posted on Alzheimer Society of Canada Website
The Alzheimer Society of Canada posted a short piece I wrote about my mother, originally published in Geist magazine.
See it here.
Loving That Folk Fest Vibe, Xtra West #364, August 2, 2007
This year I loved Folk Fest more than ever, because the welcoming of people with disabilities really sank in. It blew my mind and warmed my heart as much as the queer vibe. More…
Queer Wanderings Online, Xtra West #362, July 5, 2007
Last week I expanded my horizons to Second Life, though my avatar is still floating like a dork at the entryway. All I’ve managed to do is make her thighs and stomach heftier than the starter model. More…
Grammar Tip #12: A Girl Like I
Easing back into grammar tips now that the thesis is well done…
“A girl like I never gets to meet really interesting men. One’s brain gets to be starved.”
I’ve just been watching Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Could she be more excellent? So dumb and smart at the same time! And HOT. Like when she’s dancing with Piggy and they show her in that clingy dress from the back with her tiny waist and…
Oops–I’m heading in the wrong direction. What I wanted to write about was how Marilyn uses “I” instead of “me” to sound smarter. If most people heard the quotation above, they would know it was wrong–which is why it works so well in the film. But if Marilyn had said “girls like Dorothy and I,” many people, at least nowadays, wouldn’t even notice the error. This is why it works well to check your sentence with the other person taken out to figure out whether it should be I or me.
E.g. Come visit Georgie and I whenever you want.
Would you say “Come visit I whenever you want”? No. So say, “Come visit Georgie and me whenever you want.” That is the correct way.
See also Grammar Tip #2. I had to post this continuation of Tip #2 because I hadn’t been able to find any actual lines that Lorelei said when I posted the original tip.
Kids These Days, Xtra West #360, June 7, 2007
When I was in high school, I would rather have died than announce to the class that I was a lesbian. Not that it would even have occurred to me to label myself in the first place, to imagine that my intense lust for girls could be a public identity, and not just my secret problem. More…